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I bought myself my first real bike (Conway GRV 600) three weeks ago and was pretty happy with it. My GF decided she wants one too and got herself a Canyon Endurance Bike (cheaper than mine but same Tiagra group). Upon trying out her shifting I noticed that hers is extremely easy to use whereas on mine I have to apply quite a lot of force and by quite I mean like a ton more. With hers it's possible to go like click click click with an easy hand move, whereas on mine I sometimes struggle to get even one gear up at a time. When I originally got the bike I didn't know that it was not supposed to be like that, however now that I have something to compare, the differences are striking.

Some facts :

  • The bike was new but sold to me with a 20% discount on the retail price
  • I have ridden for around 400km since I got it, almost exclusively on roads and always in the dry - so I think my cables should be fine
  • shifting up the cassette with the rear derrailer (that is into easier gears) is what requires a lot of force, going down the cassette is really easy and fast on both bikes

Any suggestions what this could be caused by? Is it due to different cable routing, or might it be that the bike has been sitting too long somewhere and the tension on the cables is bad?

https://hollandbikeshop.com/img/prod/conway-grv-600-alu-road-bike-51cm-20s-matt-gray-blue-4251507917049-1-l.jpg

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    The primary, practical answer to any "My new bike doesn't work properly" question is to take it back to the shop and get them to repair it. Discount or no discount, you paid them for a working bike, unless you were specifically made aware of any defects. They should fix it for free. Having said that, I hope somebody posts the "how to fix this yourself" answer, because it's good to know how to do things.
    – David Richerby
    Oct 21, 2018 at 17:59
  • Yeah, take it back to the shop. As to fixing it yourself you have to figure out why it's so stiff. It could be the shifter, the cable, or the derailer.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Oct 21, 2018 at 18:10
  • Contacted the shop and told them about my issue - I hope the agree to checking the bike!
    – schneida
    Oct 21, 2018 at 19:59

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As mentioned in comments you should take the bike back to the store and get them to fix it. I wouldn't even attempt a repair because disassembling anything introduces the possibility the store will decide you caused the problem.

However, initial steps for diagnosing the problem if you want to:

I think it's highly unlikely the that cable routing is the problem because the cable would hang up on both up and downshifts.

You can easily determine if the shifter or derailleur is the problem. Detach the cable from the derailleur, work the shifter. If downshifting is now free the dearilleur was the problem. If still stiff it's the shifter.

You can also attempt to manually move the derailleur from the smallest sprocket to the largest while holding the rear wheel off the ground and pedaling (you need a work-stand or a friend to do this, or possibly put the bike upside down on something that will not scratch the saddle or hoods). Be careful not to catch your fingers in the chain.

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  • Moving the derraileur by hand works fine, also the required force to do it is pretty much the same on both bikes. In case the shop doesn't want to check the bike again (it's been almost a month...), I will try your second suggestion and detach the cable - when shifting do I run a risk of somehow pulling the cable into the 'tube' or whatever the thing around the actual cable is called?
    – schneida
    Oct 21, 2018 at 20:02
  • Before detaching innner from rear derailleur mech, OP can try pulling on a visible segment of inner, often under/beside the downtube. Scratch that - OP's bike has internal cable routing.
    – Criggie ♦
    Oct 21, 2018 at 20:39
  • @schneida cable housing is the correct term. It is possible to accidentally pull the cable out of the rear housing on a bike with exposed cable runs, but it's easy enough to push it back through. Criggie pointed out you have internal routing so that should not happen.
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Oct 21, 2018 at 20:50
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    @schneida Don't be afraid to take the bike back, it;s common practice for stores to offer a tune up after a few weeks to deal with re-adjustements required by cable stretch etc. in any case.
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Oct 22, 2018 at 13:36

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